Thomson Destiny

We only travelled on the Destiny once - a last minute booking of a 'mother and daughter' week long Mediterranean cruise to celebrate Katy's getting onto an undergraduate degree course for Computing Science BSc (Hons) at Aston University. I booked it the day after we visited Aston to check the place out after she got accepted for the course (she had no idea where it was or what it was like!) - just a week before sailing!

She was very depressed and stressed out from doing her A Levels and having been so ill during the last couple of years, and I hoped the cruise would perk her up.

We had an outside cabin on deck 4 - having been used to much higher grade cabins it was a shock! There was a window - but it was small and no ambient light from it at night meant we had to keep the light on in the bathroom all night, otherwise the absolute blackness was claustrophobic. The beds were very narrow and Katy's was under the shelf that had the tiny TV on it - she banged her head a couple of times when she sat up.

Dining was different too - we were used to the Celebration/Spirit dining where you were directed to a table at whatever time you went to dinner. But on the Destiny you were on a 'sitting' for meals and had to sit with the same people on a large table each night. Our table was composed of 'ladies' - all older than me - but a nice bunch that asked with interest about our day. However, Katy and I would have preferred to be alone.

Breakfast was self service on deck - the first morning we were ousted from our table by pushy Russian travellers who fancied out table - not what we had come to expect.

The cruise started at Palma. We had a good flight from Birmingham - empty seat next to us. It was Katy's 18th birthday and we had time to go shopping before we sailed. We bought a Captain Jack bag (which we still have) and had a fun day.

The ship was then at sea for a day - so we explored.

The other stops: Villefranche, Marina Di Carrara, Rome, Olbia and Mahon did not tempt us to go on trips - Katy did not feel well, she had very bad back ache, but we usually got off the ship and walked around the port. Katy bought her diamante bikini top from an inport market stall - not sure which country!

It was on that tiny in-cabin TV that we sawThor for the first time.